Crossing Lines
by CatoIsCatchingFire
Summary: It's time for the 73rd Hunger Games! Brooke Hays of district twelve has been a surviver all her life, but when the Capitol favors Cato, the career from District Two, is there any way for Brooke to come back out alive? Read to find out. This story is also on Wattpad.
1. Chapter 1

_This is it _I thought to myself. the day of the 73rd reaping. I rolled out of bed, if that's what you wanna call it. Put my hair in a ponytail,got dressed,and tried to sneak out of the community home. Did I forget to mention that I live there?

I jogged all the way to the fence, checked to see if it was on, when I was sure that it wasn't, I climbed under. I walked to the hollow log where I left my bow and arrows, got them and walked to our meeting place. Katniss and Gale were already there. "Hey." I said. "Hi" Gale said. Katniss just gave me a sad smile. Oh right, since I live in the community home, I can take tesserae for every kid in there. So I have like fifty entries already. Did I mention I was only fourteen? We talked a little, then we hunted. I got seven birds, five squirrels and a few berries and plants. Katniss left, then Gale, then me.

* * *

Once I got back to the Community Home, everybody was already dressed. I looked at the clock and it was already one o'clock. I ran up and put my reaping outfit on. It was a brown knee length dress and black flats. I had to save any extra money I got at the Hob for months, but I finally got it.

I looked in the mirror, I looked like a regular seam girl, brown, dark hair. Skinny, the only thing different about me was my eyes. They were green, bright green. Nobody in District Twelve has eyes like mine. Not even my parents.

I was drawn out of my thoughts by Ms. Hearn, the community home superviser, yelling,"Get down here right NOW!" So I walked over there, only to get slapped, right under my eye. After that we all walked out of the door and to the town square.

Right when we got there we had to get our fingers pricked, and go to uor age groups. Then the mayor read from the treaty of treason and gave a really long, boring, speech. Effie Trinket, our district's escort showed a video, then said,"Ladies First!"

This was it. Nobady talked, nobody moved, nobody breathed. Not until they were sure they were safe. Effie drew a name, and walked over to the microphone. She took a breath, and said, "Brooke Hays!" Me.

I walked up to the stage. At first slowly, then picking up pace every few steps, until I got there. I stood there numbly. Not paying attention. Effie called the boy's name, but I didn't hear it. We shook hands, then we were ushered to the justice building, to say our final goodbyes.

We were each put into a different room in the justice building. The rooms were almost completely velvet. I rubbed the soft chair for what felt like forever, but in reality was only a few minutes, when my first visitor came in.

Ms. Hearn. Great.

"How dare you! I bet you planned this. You took extra tesserae just so they would pick you!"

Wow. Why on earth would I do that? Before I know it, I'm standing up yelling. "Do you honestly think I would be stupid enough to trick them into picking me?!" But, that speech earns me a slap in the face and a punch in the nose. "Just get OUT!" I yell, and one of the peacekeepers must have heard me, because they all come in and carry her out.

One of them stays in to look at my nose, which is starting to bleed a lot. "Ow!" I say as he starts poking it. "Probably broken." I hear him mutter. Of course Katniss and her family choose this this moment to walk in. "Oh my! What happened?" Ms. Everdeen asks coming quickly to take control. "Ms. Hearn." I answer, it sounded funny because my nose was now being painfully squeezed. Katniss's mouth is wide open. I don't say anything but I think it. "You'll come back," says Prim, "won't you?"

"I'll try." I answer.

"You'll win." Katniss says.

"I'll try." I answer again simply.

At this, Prim starts to cry, which makes me feel bad. A peacekeeper comes in and takes them out. Right before they get out, I yell, "I will!" I wish I could cry, but I can't. The other tributes would think I'm weak. I will win, for them.

Gale comes in next. He pulls me in for a hug. "You'll win, and you'll come back." he says. "I don't know." I say back, helplessly. He pulls out of the hug, looks me dead in the eye, and says, "Don't say that. Your brave, your strong, you can fight. Your definitely smart enough to get out of the arena alive." He looks at my nose and asks, "Is your nose okay?"

"It'll be fine."

"Okay."

Then a peacekeeper comes in and escorts him out. He tries to protest, but I stop him. He doesn't need to get in trouble.

* * *

After that, we ride a car to the train station. The boy from twelve, Seth, has tears all over his face. He's eighteen. He should at least be able to restrain his tears like me. It's okay to cry, but only on the train.

Once we get there, cameras are everywhere. It's a good thing I didn't cry. We get on the train and I watch District twelve fade away. Haymitch, our district's drunken-and only- mentor is laying in a pool of his own vomit. Of course, this only makes Seth cry more. Pathetic. I roll my eyes and go watch a replay of the reapings. The careers are espicially big this year. Especially Cato, the boy from two. He's sixteen, and at least twice my size.

It's pretty late, around six o'clock. I'm hungry! Right then Effie calls us for dinner and when we get in there, WOW! It's easily enough food for all of district twelve. Haymitch is awake now. After we eat I ask him,"Any advice?"

"Don't do drugs!" he says and starts laughing.

"That's not what I meant!" I said, voice rising every word with anger. He starts laughing again and Seth starts bawling and I can barely hear myself think it's so loud."JUST SHUT UP!" I yell. Everyone gets quiet and I storm out of the room. I run to my room on the train and run to the bed. I curl up and for the first time in years, since my parents died, I cry myself to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

That was my first mistake.

I dream that I'm at the cornucopia. It's the final two. Just me and Cato. He says he'll kill me, then he'll kill everyone I love, Katniss, Gale and Prim. Then he skewers me with his spear. He pulls out a knife and starts stabbing me repeatedly.

Then I wake up.

I'm screaming and crying so hard that my throat is raw. After sitting there for an hour, I decide I can't get any more sleep. I go to the television cart. I turn on the television. That was my second mistake. All thats on is replays of the past games. I find out that I'm on Haymitch's games. I order some hot chocolate, and it's really good! Haymitch walks in and sits next to me.

He looks at me. He sees my red, puffy eyes. He knows that I've been crying."You should go back to sleep." He says. "I can't." I say weakly. He stares at me. After a while, I get annoyed, so I lay on the couch, and go to sleep.

I wake up to Effie saying," Wake up! We're in the Capitol! It's going to be a big, big, big day!"

I go to the window, and look out. What I see amazes me. We'd seen pictures of it in school, but it was nothing compared to seeing it in person. All around me were golden statues, scyscrapers in neon colors. It was amazing!

Big screens show replays of the reapings and old games. People are cheering and screaming. All I can do is give a shaky, nervous wave. We step out, and are escorted to the training center. We go to floor twelve, the top, where our stylists are waiting. A guy tells me, "Hi, I'm Cinna, I'll be your stylist." Seth is practically dragged out of the room.

Cinna lead me to a room and introduced me to my prep team. " Hi, I'm Venia and this is Flavius and Octavia." They all wave.

* * *

They wax, pluck, and poke me till I'm perfect. Then Cinna comes in with a clothes bag.

" What is He pulls out a grey dress that goes just above my knees. It is just grey. That's it. I like it, but sponsers won't. This could make me lose the games. Cinna must have seen the look on my face, because he says, "It's not on." He flicks on a switch, and an image appears. It looks like a tornado. Coal dust is spinning in an eerily dark way. It all comes together to make a huge fire, roaring and swirling in such a scary way. This is perfect!

He laughs. " Let's get you into it."

An hour later we are waiting in front of the chariots. Waiting to get in. Cinna turns our costumes on. We get into the chariot. Seth starts crying. The crowd is screaming my name. Then they start laughing when they see him. I can't let this happen! We'll never get sponsers. I can almost hear Haymitch cursing at Seth. I have to do something.

I turn to him. " Do you want to live?" I aske him softly, kindly even.

"Yes."

"Then this is very important. You need sponsers. They are laughing at you. The careers are staring at you like you're a meal. Show them that your not."

He wiped his eyes and held his head higher. We hug, which makes the crowd go wild and we start waving and blowing kisses. The crowd is screaming our names. Throwing flowers even. I see a beautiful yellow rose, catch it, and put it in my hair. When the parade is over, everyone is staring at us, mainly me. I give a smirk, and walk to Haymotch.

He pulls me off to the side and talks to me.

"Whatever you said to him, it worked. He had me worried for a moment there. What did you say to him?"

I told Haymitch what I said to him and we go to the elevator, and when we get to our floor, everyone is already there.

"You were wonderful!" Effie exclaims.

"Great job!" Cinna says.

I decide that I want to eat. So we do. We have some chicken with a purple sauce and rice with corn. We also have fish with a baked potatoes.

After that I decide to go to sleep. I put on some soft pajamas and go to sleep. Tonight, it wasn't a mistake.

* * *

The next day, we start training.

I wake up in the morning, get dressed, and walk to the dining room. Haymitch is already waiting. "Hey sweetheart." That's gonna get annoying. Ignoring the comment, I ask,"So, any advice?"

"Yes, don't show them your best skills until your private sessions. If I were you, I'd leave now. Effie's waking up Seth, and when she's done, she'll walk you down. Don't think you want that." He says. I finish eating quickly, and go down.

When I get down there, only the careers are my , the training coordinator, gestures for me to sit by them. I do as she says. Rather unhappily, I might add. I don't let them see that I'm weak, so I act as bored as I can, which isn't completely acting, and soon, the other tributes come in, until we are all here. We get some long, lame speech about death, and we can train.

But the careers call me. I turn to look at them. The boy from two, Cato asks tauntingly, "Hey twelve, what's the rush? Why don't you come with us?" Gleam, the guy from one, says,"Unless your too scared." The girls from their districts, May from two, and Sparkle from one, make rude faces, mocking me. I can't take it, so I give in, and say,"Fine."

Gleam hands me a knife, I'm good with knives, so I throw it. I hit the bull's eye. The thing is, the target was at least one hundred feet away. All their mouths drop. Cato quickly composes himself. He hands me a spear. I throw it. It hits the bull's eye of a target about 20meters away.

I realize that I disobey the only order Haymitch gave me, so I walk away, leaving them all with a stupid look on their faces. It's a good thing that I didn't shoot a bow in front of them. After that, I mainly stick to simple stations, like edible plants, or knot tying.

After lunch, I just build fires, or tie knots. I got kind of addicted to the knot tying station. So I did it a lot.

When training is over, I go back up to floor twelve. When I get there, Haymitch looks mad. Really mad. "What did you do?"

"Why?" I ask.

"Well, the careers instructed their mentors to send you a formal alliance invitation."

My eyes widen. That's huge. "Tell them that I respectfully decline." I say.

"It doesn't work like that!" He yells. "They'll make you their first target!"

"Oh." Is all I can think to say." I'll tell them that you said yes." He says. Then he rubs his eyes like he has a terrible headache. "You're giving me grey hairs kid." he says, then walks out to talk to the other mentors.

Wow. Seth walks in, crying. Ugh. Still, I decide to be nice.

"What's wrong?" I ask sweetly.

"The careers said I'll be their first target." he whimpers. There's not much I can say about that, so I just say,"You'll just have to practice those survival skills. Train a lot."

Then I walk out.

**A/N: Long chapter! To me anyways. I uploaded this from my account on another website. I may have this whole story up by tonight! (I doubt it though.)**


	3. Chapter 3

The rest of the week went pretty much the same. I trained, I ate, I slept. Today was the day of our private sessions. I had absolutely no idea what to do. Since I'm from twelve, i'll be the last one anyway. I eat breakfast, which is like, purple eggs, and go to the elevator. Haymitch is in there. "Any advice?" I ask.  
"Do good. Show them everything. Be remembered."  
With that, the elevator stops and I get out. I wait, and wait, and wait, for what seems like forever and finally it's my turn. I walk in, and look at the gamemakers. They are drinking and laughing like dummies. I clear my throat and say,"Brooke Hays," loudly. They all look at me.  
I go to the knife throwing station. I grab a dozen knives, ang throw them all one at a time. Bull'seye! All of them. Them I throw a spear. Bull'seye! I look up and they aren't even looking at me! I shoot a dozen arrows into targets. Bullseyes all of them. But the gamemakers still aren't looking. I get really mad. I grab a knife and sprint to the net at the top of the ceiling. I climb it, and go to the corner where the net is bolted to the wall. I cut it. The net goes flying straight into the gamemaker's platform! I land on the edge. I stand up and lean against the wall. They are all too drunk to even hear me! I clear my throat loudly. They all look in my direction. Their faces startled. I throw the knife in my hand and it goes flying at a target. Bullseye. I jump down and walk out. I seriously thought about flipping them off, but I didn't. I walk into floor twelve. Seth is crying and holding ice to his shoulder. Haymitch is helping him. I roll my eyes and walk to my room. - It's time to get our go like this:  
D1 Gleam-10/ Sparkle-9

D2 Cato-10/ May-10

D3 Click-4/ Erin-3

D4 Ray-5/ Tailor-4

D5 Charlie-2/ Rachel-3

D6 Sam-4/ Carrie-3

D7 Brett-2/ Penelope-7

D8 Will-4/ Silk-2

D9 Jared-4/ Rose-2

D10 Luke-2/ Marie-4

D11 Aaron-2/ Rain-5

D12 Seth-3/ Brooke-12

WOW! A twelve! That is the only/first twelve in hunger games history!

* * *

Cato's POV:

A TWELVE! HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE? How did _she_ get a twelve? If anyone should get a twelve, it sould be _me_! NOT HER!

I storm off to my room. I start hitting and throwing everything in there. I slump on my bed and May comes in. "You okay?" she asks. She is such a STUPID person! "DO I LOOK OKAY?" I yell. She runs away, crying. I think she has a crush on me. I go down to the training room, and guess whos there. Brooke.

For four hours Effie trains me to walk in high heels. And to act all fancy and stuff. Boring! After that, Haymitch works with me to find an angle.

"You're too small for hostile, too headstrong for nervous, too ugly for sexy, hmmm." He says.

"Thanks." I say sarcastically.

"Oh I've got it! You could be rude, annoying and sarcastic."

"Really, are you serious!"

"I guess"

Then, I walk away, like a boss! "Seth's is a wimpy wuss." he says I laugh, half-heartedly, and walk into my room.

* * *

Later when it's about two hours until the interviews, Cinna comes and gets me. He pulls out my dress. And my mouth flies open!

My interview dress is amazing! It is a full length dress. It is a pitch black dress. On the bottom of the dress is the design of flames. The flames are made of a mixture of gray and whote feathers. Not the big over the top ones, but the ones that look real. And it is a ballgown dress. Inside the hem is a small button an on button. When Cinna pushes it, the storm pattern from last night. When the storm turns into the flames, the gray image dissolves, and the gray and white feathers turn a brilliant orange and red! It is the most amazing ever!

"People have begun calling you the Simple Storm, after your outfit at the opening ceremonies, so I thought that I'd piggy-back on that." Cinna says. He curls my long hair that falls to my waist. It looks great! He puts dark black makeup on, and we head to the interviews.

First is district one, then two and so on. When it's my turn I walk up to the stage, shake Cesaer's hand and sit down. I press up the button. Everyone oohs and aawws. Even Cesaer.

"So Brooke, How are you faring?" he asks.

"I'm great, nothing better than thinking of a thousand ways people could kill me." I say rudely and sarcastically. Thinking of my angle Haymitch and I talked about.

"Oh. How did you get that twelve?" He asks. "Do you think that I would be stupid enough to tell you in front of all those people who wanna kill me?" I ask

"Well no." he says. The crowd is practically falling out of their chairs laughing.

"Is there anything you want to tell your friends and family?" This is it, my chance to get all the sponsers. My way to make everyone in their crowd sob.

"I don't have a family. They died when I was six. In a mining accident. Then I stayed with my brother, who was nineteen. A year later, they struck water in the mines. The mines flooded, and he drowned. I have lived in the community home since then." I say, tears falling down my face. The cute ones, not the ugly shaking sobs." But, I want to tell my friends, not to give up. To fight, forever." I say, then the buzzer goes off. I walk back to my seat.

Set comes up next and cries the entire three minutes. He nailed his angle. I walk off the stage when it's over, and Haymitch walks me up to our floor. We are in the elevator alone. "Good job, you showed your rude side, your soft side, and your strong side." he says. I nod, and burst into tears. I sob.

Tomorrow, we start the games.


	4. Chapter 4

Brooke's POV:

I woke up the next morning in my room in the training center. I looked around. It was a pretty nice room. The walls were a deep purple color. The beds were soft, like sleeping on clouds. That was also why I spent most of my time sleeping on the couch.

I walked to the bathroom. I was still in my pajamas. I looked into the mirror. They were nice pajamas. A black tanktop, and green pajama pants. So, I decided I would just wear them in the launch jet. Once we got to our launch rooms, they would just change us into our clohes for the arena.

The arena. It could be anything. Forests. That would be ideal. Deserts, old cities, ruins, frozen tundras. Anything.

I walk to the television room. Haymitch is in there. He looks sad. I walk over to him. He opens his arms for a hug. I hug him. His arms wrap around me, protectively almost. "Stay strong. Don't let it get to you." he says. Tears start slipping down my face. " I don't want to stay strong." I say in a small voice. Just then, the hovercraft arrives outside. "I know. You better get going." I nod, wipe the tears off my face, and walked out onto the roof. Seth walks right past me. Crying of course. I walk right in front of the ladder, and get on.

Instantly, I am literally frozen in place. The ladder lifts me up. I walk over to the seat that has the number twelve on it. I sit down. Cato is right next to me. I dit down. " Nice outfit." he says.

"We're just gonna change anyway." I say back. Just then, a capitol attendant comes by. She stops in front of Cato. "Let me see your arm." she says. "What is that?" he asks rudely. "It's a tracker." she answers, roughly pulling his arm towards her. She installs the tracker, and he winces. He does it so fast you could miss it, but I saw it. She comes opver to me. Snorts at my outfit, and grabs my arm. I wince too when she puts the tracker. And she walks away.

I sneak a glance at Seth. I feel bad for him, but I'm not gonna save his butt in the arena. You've got to look out for yourself.

When we get to the launch room, I walk to Cinna. He changes me to my arena outfin. It's a bit odd. I have on hunting boots with short blue jean shorts and a bikini top on. Over the top I have a white tank top. It will most likely be really hot this year. I look at Cinna, he just shrugs. Then a voice says, "30 seconds to launch." I start to hyperventilate. Cinna reaches into his pocket. He pulls out a a jacket. My hunting jacket to be exact. "How'd you get this?" I ask giddily. "Doesn't matter, I got it approved as your district token." Then the launch tube starts blinking. I get on and it moves up slowly. As it goes up I pull my jacket on. When it gets to the top, I look around. The 60 second countdown starts. All around me is water. The sun is beating down at about 150 degrees. The cornucopia is be hind me, thet's odd. Then I realise that I just got on backwards. Oops.

I look towards the cornucopia. It ia all metal. That would probably kill you if you fall.

12,11,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. BONG!

It goes off. I run to the cornucopia. I see the boy from 3, Click I think, fall. His agonizing screams echo hauntingly through the whole arena. I run right to the entrance, and grab a bow and quiver of arrows. I also grab a doze knives and a sword. I get two packs and I'm off. I go to Cato who is fighting with the boy from 11. The boy from 11 stabs Cato in the gut, hes about to finish him off when I throw a knife in his head. Cato may be a huge risk, but I'll never forgive myself If I could've saved him and I didn't. I go over and help him walk. "Where to?" I ask.

"Go to the cornucopia." He says. Most people are gone. Dead bodies litter the ground. They are getting burned. I notice that inside the cornucopia is all grass. I help Cato sit down. May stands up. "Is everyone here?" Everyone mumbles yes and she nods. She spots Cato. She looks in her pack and pulls out some bandages. She starts bandaging his gut. "What happened?" she asks worriedly. "11, he got me, until Brooke threw a knife at him." he says. Everyone stares at me. I feel really awkward so I say,"I'ma go see if the water is freshwater or saltwater." i say. They all nod.

Cato's POV:

Thirteen cannons. They all go off as Brooke walks to the water. She brings six water bottles with her. She sticks her finger in the water and licks it. I guess it's fresh, because she fills the water bottles. I was just gonna kill her, or kill her at the end. But she keeps doing all these things to make me like her. Like the fact that she saved me, or the story she told at the interviews. May gently bandages my gut.

Brooke walks over here. She hands a water bottle to each of us. "I already put the purifier in it." she says.

"How can we trust you?" Sparkle asks.

"I'll trade with any of you."she answers.

Gleam gives her his in response. She drinks it. Nothing happens, so we all drink ours.

Gleam asks her,"How can you wear that jacket, it's so hot? How did you even get that jacket?"

"It's my district token, and it's a comfort to me."she says back, like nothing.

It's noght now. The capitol anthem plays, and the dead tributes pictures show. It starts at three, Both tributes are ded. Same for four, five,and six. Only the boy from from eight, ten, eleven, and Seth from twelve. We all look st Brooke. She just shakes her head and looks down. So that means both from one,two, and nine are alive, along with one from seven, eight, ten, eleven, and twelve are alive. Not including my self, there are only ten to go. We decide to go to sleep for the night. Gleam volunteers to take watch tonight.

I wake up at the middle of the night hearing a scream from nearby. I look over to see Gleam on top of Brooke. She has a huge cut on her back. It looks really deep, and she's bleeding quite a bit. Gleam picks his sword up, about to kill her when I jump on top of him. "WHAT THE HECK?" I yell. I pick up a spear from nearby and drive it straight into his stomach. His cannon fires almost immediatly.

I look over to Brooke. She's trying to breathe, but it looks like she's struggling. May and Sparkle are trying to calm her down ao help her out. I rip open a backpack and grab some bandages. Then, she starts to fade in and out of conciousness.

She goes limp. I don't know what to do. All I can do is yell,"Check her pulse!" May puts her fingers to Brooke's neck. "There's a pulse." she says. Although I'm not full convinced untill I see her chest rise and fall.

I sigh. I honestly don't know why I want her to live. I keep telling myself that its so I can kill her in the end. I continue wrapping her bandages.

* * *

About five hours later, she wakes up. She sits up, with some difficulty, and looks at me questionably, then she sighs. "Where's my jacket?" she asks. Sparkle gives it to her. Her eyes widen when she sees the huge hole in it. She looks like shes about to cry. "What's wrong, It's just a jacket?" Sparkle asks.

"It was my older brother's." She answered. That's right. Her brother is dead. That's why the jacket was a little big on her. Then, a silver parachute comes down. I pick up the note inside. It says:

Career Kid,

She saved your butt back there. Thanks for saving her's. Inside here is a needle and thread. Give it to her to sew up thet jacket of hers before she has a meltdown. I've already lost one kid, I don't plan on losing another.

-H

That must be her mentor. He might be meaner than Enobaria, my mentor. I hand her the needle and thread. I watch as her shaking hands sloppily stitch the jacket back together.

* * *

Brooke's POV:

I smile at my handiwork. The jacket isn't that well sewed, but it'll do. Then I see something way out in the distance. 'What is that?" I ask to nobody in the particular.

"A FIRE!" Sparkle yells, obviously excited. "Let's go!"

Cato looks at me. ,"Can you make it?" he asks.

I shake my head. "No, but I'll just stay here and keep watch on our camp."

Sparkle looks at me,"What if this is all a plan. What if she just wants to steal our supplies?"

Cato and May look at me, then at eachother. Without saying anything, Cato scoops me up, and carries me out. May and Sparkle follow him, and they all run to the spot where the fire is. When we get there, Rain, the girl from eleven, is in the tree. Cato sets me down. Sparkle climbs up the tree and pushes Rain out.

Cato whispers in my ear,"Say something witty, the sponsers will love it."

I look over at Rain, and say,"What's the matter? Girl got your tongue?"

This gives Sparkle an Idea, because she turns to Rain, and cuts her tongue out. She continues doing horrible things to her, and I don't pay attention, because I do the craziest thing ever, I put my head against Cato's chest, so I can't see anything. He pats my back awkwardly. Then, we hear a cannon. Rain is dead. Cato scoops me up, and they start to walk back. It's a long walk, so I end up falling asleep.

Cato's POV:

She falls asleep in my arms. We cross the metal ground. The sensible thing to do would be to drop her. I don't. Besides me, there's only nine others. May and Sparkle start yelling at eachother, they also start pushing eachother. I see Sparkle fall, she starts screaming and crying. The cannon goes off. Just like that, she's dead. In our alliance, it's just Me, May, and Brooke. Besides me, there are now only eight tributes.

We go back to our spot under the cornucopia, and I volunteer to take watch. May shrugs, and goes to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Cato's POV:

About halfway through the night, two sponser gifts arrive. One after the other. The loud beeping sound they make wakes up both of the girls. Brooke catches on first and slowly crawls the seven or eight to where I am. May walks solely on her knees to me once she is more awake. We all read the letters that come with the givts. The first one says:

_ Cato, _

_ I have no Idea, absolutely no idea why you have kept her alive. But, now that she's still alive, you'll have to save her till the end. It's all on you to bring our district pride. Use your common sense. _

_ - Enobaria_

May and Brooke both look really mad. "Well, on that _lovely _note, I'm gonna go... hunt." Brooke says.

"You can't handle hunting." I say.

"Watch me." she shoots back. She grabs her bow and arrows, and walks away.

May, on the other hand, looks at me. She doesn't think I'll make it. She grabs her sword and her knives, and storms away. Although, I could have sworn I heard hermutter, "I'll show her." before she left. Meanwhile, I open the other note.

_Career Kid, _

_ Ha. I knew this would happen. Boy, am I good. Give her the medicine. If she comes back, that is._

_ -Haymitch_

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

Brooke's POV:

Ugh. I knew this would happen. I knew it.

How could I have been so naive? I know how to survive. I just fell into the career's trap. If Haymitch is out there watching, he's probably either cussing me out, or saying,"Ha, I told ya so."

In my anger, I manage to shoot down seven birds. Then I hear a scream. It sounded like it was nearby. I look around. Then I hear it again, and a cannon. Then I hear running, and before I know it, the pair from nine are right next to me.

The boy laughs. He pulls out a knife, and throws it. I duck, just in time so it doesn't hit my neck, but it manages to hit the bridge of my nose. The girl starts to swing with a sword. She obviously isn't a swordsman, so I manage to shoot her pretty easy. She crumples to the ground, and the cannon goes off. The boy gets really mad, and he starts to throw the knives again. One hits me in the shoulder. I shoot, but the shots aren't fatal. I get him in the shoulder, kneecap, and wrist.

He throws another knife, and it hits me in the thigh. I get really mad, and shoot. It hits him in the neck. He crumples, screams, and dies. The cannon blasts. That's it. I run all the way back to our camp. When I get there, I see Cato, but not May.

"Where's May?" I ask.

"You didn't see the dead tribute slideshow?"

"No, I was too busy trying not to join them." I shoot back.

"She's dead."

"Oh."

He looks bad. He probably needs to sleep. "I'll take watch. You can go to sleep or whatever."

He turns to look at me. He sees all the blood. "That can wait. Here, your mentor sent you some medicine." He gives me a giant shot. It stings, but only temporarily. "You can go to sleep now." I say. He does, and I'm all alone, watching for other tributes.

I take time to think. There were ten tributes this morning, Gleam, Sparkle,May, and the two from nine died. Not counting myself, there are only four left.

* * *

Cato's POV:

Three days. Three days go by with no action. The gamemakers are gonna get restless. We wake up.

Brooke looks at me. "We're gonna need to hunt. The birds I got the other day are gone. Do you want to go, or do you want me to go?"

"I'll go." I answer.

I grab a spear, and walk to the forest area. I needed time to think. Truthfully, we don't need food. We have about three packs loaded with it. I really came out here for alone time only. That's when I see the tribute. He comes out from nowhere, but, this is what I trained for. He comes by and tries to attack me. As if. And before he can even scream, I have him speared. The cannon fires. I go back, to find Brooke drinking water. "What? You don't even care? That could hace been me." I say angrily.

"Cato, counting you, besides myself, there's only one person left. Was it that bad that I want to win?" she says back. She actually has a point.

"Whatever." I say back.

"Did you get any food?"

"We don't need it. We have packs galore of food." I shoot back.

"Dang, sorry." she says.

Brooke's POV:

Dang, Cato is really could be May's death, but I dunno. We are both just... I don't even know anymore. I thought everything would fall into place. I thought that if I'd procrastinate long enoug, the problems would solve themselves. Boy, was I wrong. It took me to long to realize, nobody's coming to save me now. That's how it's been all my life, why would it be any different now.

It's time to start solving my own problems. It's time to watch out myself. It's time to grow up. After all, you can't win if you're afraid to lose.

"Look, I know how it is to lose somebody close to you. So cut the crap and get over it. Did you expect to come in the games and everything would be perfect. You trained for this." I say.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" he yells.

I laugh, probably like a maniac. "I do know what I'm talking about!"

Then, we hear growling. We turn, and come face to face with the ugliest mutt ever. It is jet black. Its mouth has blood dripping from it, then we hear a cannon go off. It's just us two. The mutt starts chasing me. I grab my bow and run, or climb. I climb up to the top. Cato climbs right behind me. The mutts start jumping. I shoot them down, when I run out of arrows, Cato spears them. Then more and more keep coming.

"What do we do?" Cato yells over all the noise that they are making.

"We have to kill eachother. Thet's what they want. The games are taking too long they want them to end!" I say.

Almost immediatly, the mutts are sucked into the ground.

"I guess that is what they want." Cato says. Then, he lunges for me and pushes me off the cornucopia.I hit the ground with a thud. I see the sun come up really fast. They want to see the action perfectly.

I pop up fast, the hot metal ground is burning me. Cato hops off and jumps on me. He pins me to the ground. I fight, I kick and try to turn him, but I can't. The ground is searing my skin. He pulls a knife out of his pockrt. Gee, where was that when the mutts were here? He attempts to stab me. That's when the adrenaline kicks in. I flip him over. I'm on top of him.

Out of nowhere, a fireball comes and hits my side. I fall to the ground and curl up. He takes the chance to get on top of me again.

Y'know how they say you can't feel two kinds of pains at the same time? They lied. Because right now, I couldn't decide which hurt most, my side or my back. But, once again, adrenaline kicks in. And I'm on top of him.

But, once again, a fireball hits me. This time, I don't think I'll make it. Cato is on top of me, and my whole body is _burning! _I'm hoping, no praying that adrenaline will kick in again. But it doesn't. I'm on my own.

Cato raises his knife. I can just see the gamemakers smiling. I think that's what makes me do it. I flip him over, one last time, and rip his knife out of his hand.

I'm on top of him now, and I raise the knife and right as I'm bringing it down, ready to stab him, Cladius Templesmith's voice rings out," NO STOP! Don't kill him, you both win, May I present you with your victors of the seventy third hunger games, Cato Hall and Brooke Hays!"

That's it. We won.

The hovercraft comes to get us. I climb up, and instantly, I am frozen again.

The second we get into the hovercraft, I pass out. I'm utterly exhausted.

Cato's POV:

She passes out. I catch her. When I look at her, I can't help but feel terrible. She's so burned, she is unrecognizable. She looks so weak and innocent. I wish I could help her.

A capitol doctor rushes over and takes her from my arms. They rush her to a compartment. I try to follow, but some other capitol doctors restrain me.

"She's hurt!"

"She'll be fine, they know what they're doing." A doctor says calmly, leading me to a compartment.

"SHE NEEDS HELP!" I yell, then I am drugged until I pass out.


	6. Chapter 6

Brooke's POV:

I was asleep, not dead. Normally, I'm a heavy sleeper. Not here.

All I could hear was the doctors abd nurses squealing. But, it came in handy, because they wanted to do surgery on me. Unnecessary surgeries. They wanted to make me like them. Fake. Ugly. NO! So I started yelling at them and when our 'argument' got loud, Haymitch came in and took over.

Now, today is my last day (in the hospital). So, when Haymitch comes in and says it's time to go, I all but run into his arms. He hugs me, and says,"Ya did good."

We go back to floor twelve, a place I never thought I'd be so glad to see. When we get there, Cato is there. I used to almost trust him. How stupid was that? Why would trust make him stop wanting to win the games? Why? Because I was stupid, and naive, and childish. I can't believe I fell into the career's trap.

He looks at me, no, stares at me. I don't return it. We just stand there, like that, for at least five minutes. Until Cato says(or yells), "JUST LOOK AT ME! OKAY? I GET IT. YOU DON'T TRUST ME. HONESTLY, I DON'T REALLY TRUST YOU RIGHT NOW. BUT I'M TRYING AT LEAST!"

"I... I don't know how." I say weakly. Haymitch comes over, and tries to talk to me, but I just shake him off. I don't want to talk. Not now.

"I need to speak to both of you on the roof." Haymitch says. He must want it to be private. It's pretty obvious the rooms are bugged. Not the roof.

When we get out, Haymitch comes over to us both.

"Look, I know both of you are kind of... strung out, over the killing eachother thing, but, we don't have time for that. The Capitol is really mad. They only wanted the boy to win. They would do anything for him to win. That's why you kept getting hit by fireballs," at this, Cato laughs. I glare at him."So, that's why they let both of you win. He was the favorite, and you were about to kill him." haymitch continues.

"But, they are still angry...at you Brooke. You weren't supposed to win. Look, you two are gonna have to get along. More than that, you're going to have to fall in love."

"No!" he says.

"Absolutely not!" I say.

"I don't care! You're gonna have to." Haymitch says sternly.

"Look-"

Cato starts, before I interrupt, "No. I know what you're gonna say." I say.

"We've got to do something." He says, walking closer.

"You could start with an apology." I say, refusing to make eye contact.

"Fine. I'm sorry for almost killing you." he says exhasperated

"Me too." I say stubbornly.

"Yeah," he says. He gets closer and closer until his lips touch mine.

This kiss... it's not what you'd expect. His lips are chapped, but mine are probably are too. It's rough, but sweet too.

Then, we hear Haymitch's rough voice saying,"Well, that didn't take long."

* * *

Cato's POV:

Wow. That was embarassing.

She tries to pull away, but I won't let her. She doesn't resist. We kiss for a bit longer. Her lips are soft, and chapped. It's a sweet kiss.

"Y'all sicken me." her mentor dude says gruffly.

She breaks away first. She looks at me, and cries. I don't really know what to do. I've never been in this situation. My life was always about training. I never thought about my life after the games.

I pat her back awkwardly. This must not help, because she walks away.

Brooke's POV:

I walk in to the room again. Cinna and Haymitch are staring at me.

"Yes?"

"You're finally done. I thought he'd swallowed you." Haymitch teases.

"Haha so funny I forgot to laugh."

Cinna interrupts, but he still has a smile on his face."Come on, lets get you into your dress for the interview and crowning."

Great. We get to watch all the deaths again.

* * *

Later, when we are all dressed, we wait to be introduced. I look down at my dress. It's full length. It is a soft yellow color with lace ocer it. It is a flowy straight dress. I love it! Cato is in a black suit with a gray shirt under.

Haymitch comes over to us.

"Act like you both have a crush on eachother. Not the full on love crap, but sweet stuff."

We can do that, I think.

Cesaer calls us and the crowd goes wild! Then they start the video.

Let's just say, it's the worst three hours of my they show Rain's death, I cry. Simple as that. Cato comforts me, and I end up with my head in his chest again. All the deaths are horrible, but Rain's was the worst. I won't even talk. Cato looks a little upset at May's death. I can understand that.

Then, Cesaer starts asking the questions.

"So, how is it being a victor?"

"Great." Cato says.

"Overrated." I say;Cato elbows me.

"Yes, well, I hear you two kissed. Tell us about that."

I look at Haymitch, he just grins.

"It was nice, soft," Cato says. I laugh.

"Yeah, sweet." I say.

"What will you do after this?"

"Go home." I say.

"Have fun, help others in two, y'know, the usual." Cato says. See he's the only one who knows what they're doing.

Once it's over, they give us our crowns. They are golden. They have little rings that reflect the light. They are beautiful!

We go back to our floor. Cato stops me right outside the elevator. Haymitch asks if I want them to wait.

"No, I'll catch up." so, they go up.

"What?" I ask.

"Can I stay on your floor? My mentor got mad and left."

"Sure, I guess, let's go."


	7. Chapter 7

Today is the day we finally get to leave, the day I've been waiting for. Cato comes by my room in the morning.

"Are you gonna go back to twelve?"

"Yes, why?"

"Just wondering."

"Okay."

I don't have anything to pack so I just go down and wait for Haymitch. When he comes down, we get on the train back home. I wave goodbye to Cato and give him a hug. Then we leave.

Once the train takes off, I go to the couch and sit. Haymitch comes and sits next to me.

"Ya did good kid," he says. I nod. What else can I do? I killed other children! I mean, am I supposed to be proud of myself?

"I know how you feel." he says.

"I know."

"Well, if you need anything just-"

"I do need something."

He looks at me expectantly.

"Is my house gonna be next to yours?"

"If you want it to be."

"I do."

"Okay," he says, he pats my head, and walks away.

I turn on some mindless Capitol junk, and it's a movie. It's the only thing that isn't about the games. I watch it for a little while, but end up falling asleep. Sleep. Something I've been deprived of since before the reaping.

When I wake up, we are at the borders of twelve. I can't wait. Well, maybe I can. I mean, what if they hate me? I did ally with the careers.

Well, times up. We arrive back in twelve. Haymitch comes over to me.

"Don't worry. They'll love you. You are the first victor they've had in twenty-three years." he says and walks out.

I'm next. I walk out and they go wild. I see Katniss and Gale. I walk over to them. Katniss practically flies into my arms, followed by Prim and Gale.

We probably look like some crazy disfunctional family. But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Cato's POV:

My first week in district two wasn't so well, district two didn't exactly love me when I got back. Something about not winning honorably. My win was a mercy win. They think I should've died.

I was a failure. My town hated me. My district hated me. My parents hated me. The only ones who even slightly liked me were my brothers, my sister, and the capitol. Everywhere I go, people stare at me and give me hateful glares.

All I know is one thing. I have to leave.

Where, I don't know yet. But, I have a feeling Brooke will be with me.

Brooke. She doesn't have it easy either. The capitol _hates_ her. That settles it. I'm going to District Twelve.

Brooke's POV:

My first week in twelve? Terrible. Let's start with me being expelled from school, shall we?

I went to school, not voluntarily, Haymitch made me, and, almost immediatly, got in trouble. What did I do? Well, some dumb kid from the town, said I didn't deserve the money. So, I said back,"Shut up." Witty, right? Well, it was a warning. You see, my mind hasn't exactly been the same since the games. I'm not crazy, like Annie Cresta, who won the games a few years back, but, just on edge.

So, when he continued with stupid comments like,"Retarded seam brat," I got a little mad. I pinned him up against the wall before he could call for help. He cried like a baby. Kept saying I was gonna kill him. Dummy. I had no intention of killing him, just wanted to scare him, that's all.

Then, one of the teachers who_ already hated _me, started yelling. Screamed that I was gonna murder everyone here, and when I yelled that I wasn't, I got expelled. Oops. I'll get over it.

So, now I'm here, reading some book from a thousand years ago. Whatever. Then, I hear a knock on the door. I go over and answer it. I never would've guessed it'd be who it was.

It was Cato.

"My district hates me, can I stay here?" he bursts out.

"Uh, yeah, I guess. It's my fault isn't it?"

He shakes his head, and walks in.

"There's a guest room on the second floor you can have." I say warily.

"Okay. Shouldn't you be like, at school or something?"

"I got expelled." I say simply. He nods, and walks upstairs.

I sit down, right when Haymitch walks in. He's got his own key, so he comes in at random times.

"You talkin' to yourself?"

"No." Cato says, walking down.

"Oooh, you got boys sleeping with you!" Haymitch says.

Cato explains why he is here, and Haymitch plops down on my couch. "Well, this has been fun and all, but, I ran out of liquor, and do you have the back up stash?"

I walk to the cabinet where I keep the back up stash, and give him some. "Here." I say.

"Bye y'all." he says, and walks out, leaving Cato and I alone.

* * *

Cato and I don't talk, we just stand there. After about ten minutes, I say, "Why don't we watch TV?"

"That's fine"

So we watch a movie. It's about war, why you shouldn't rebel against the Capitol. It's so dumb. A total piece of junk. "This is stupid." I say.

"Yeah, I agree."

"You know what we should do, we should introduce you to people from twelve!" I say. Because he doesn't know anyone or anything about the district.

"Sounds good." he says.

"Okay, let's get dressed."

We both get dressed. I put on a pair of black skinny jeans, with a gray tank top. Over that, I put on my hunting jacket. They managed to get that out of the arena. The only think wrong with it is the ugly stitches I put on the back, but I still love it.

When I go down, I see that Cato is already down there. He's wearing jeans with a gray shirt and a black coat.

"You ready?" I ask.

"Yup." he says, popping the 'p'.

We walk out of my house in Victor's Village and go into the seam.

"Where are we going first?" he asks.

"Well, this is the seam, where I used to live. My friends, Katniss and Gale live here."

"Katniss, Gale, and Brooke, wow y'all are really in tune to nature here, aren't you?" he says, elbowing me jokingly.

"Well, it's no 'Cato" but..."

"Okay, we're even." he says.

"Good, because we're here." I say, stopping in front of Katniss's house.

I knock, and Prim answers.

"Hi Prim, can we come in?" I ask.

"Yeah sure come on-" she stops when she sees Cato.

She nods, and walks away, to go get Katniss.

"This is a bad idea, your district probably hates me." he says.

"Then you'll have to prove to them that you're a good guy."

Katniss comes over, and lets us in.

They look at eachother, each one not trusting the other.

"Katniss, this is Cato, Cato, this is Katniss."

They nod, and look away.

"I trust you, y'know." Cato says.

"Do you have a choice?" Katniss shoots back.

"Look, what's y'all's problem, I trust him, and he tried to kill me, and I trust you, and hardly anybody else trusts either of you, so get over yourselves, and trust _eachother_!"

"Okay." they both say grudgingly.

Then, as if on que, Gale walks in.

"What is _he_ doing here?"

"He lives in twelve now. His district hates him."

"Can't blame them."Gale mutters.

"That's Gale." I say.

They both wave, and Cato says,"Well, I think we should go back home, I've had enough 'making friends" for one day."

"Okay, fine. Let's go home." I say.

We walk out.

"Y'know, you could be nicer. If you want twelve to accept you, you have to let them trust you."

"I know, but I don't know how!" he says.

I sigh.

This might be more work than I thought.


	8. Chapter 8

*The Next Day*

Cato's POV:

In the morning, Brooke starts talking about going to the town today.

"Brooke, slow down, we haven't even had breakfast." I say.

She comes over and pats my head playfully,"We're gonna get some at the bakery." she says.

"Oh." I say, feeling stupid.

We go outside. I have on jeans and a black shirt. Shes basically wearing the same thing she wore yesterday, but today, she put her hair in a messy bun.

Not that I paid that much attention.

We walk for a long time.

"We're here." she says. We walk in.

Theres a boy about her age at the counter. He was blonde, stocky, short-ish.

"Hi Peeta." she says.

"Hey Brooke. The usual?" he replies, smiling.

"Yeah," she says sheepishly,"And Cato, what do you want?"

I shrug.

"He'll get what I'm getting."

"Okay, that'll be right up." he says.

Then, an older man comes out. I'd guess he was in his late forties, he was kinda on the chunky side, but he looked pretty happy.

"Hey Brooke, got any squirrels for me?" he says, smiling.

"Not today. But I think I'm gonna start hunting again tomorrow."

"Sounds great." he says. She laughs.

"Cato, this is Mr. Mellark, and the boy you just saw was Peeta. Peeta has two brothers. Adam and James."

"Got it." I reply.

Then, Peeta comes out with two bags, Brooke grabs them, and hands Peeta a handful of money. Peeta looks at her questioningly, and she nods.

"Bye." she says, they wave, and we walk out.

"What is 'the usual'"

"Cheese buns." she says, smiling. She hands me a bag. They are so good. Fluffy and soft and cheesy.

"Where to next?" I ask.

"Community home."

"Why?"

"Because I used to live there, and the kids there are sweet." she replies.

A little more walking, and we're there.

She just walks through the door, no knocking.A lady, probably forty to fifty comes in.

"About time, thought that you were gonna bail, because you were too good for us." the lady says sharply and cooly.

"No," says Brooke steadily,"I'm not like you." I see the lady slap Brooke, hard, but Brooke doesn't even flinch.

"I came to drop off some money. _For Them_. Because if you spend it on yourself, I promise I will hunt you down and-"

"Okay Brooke, we get it, just drop off the money and let's get out." I say.

Brooke looks at me, and walks up the stairs. About five minutes later, she comes back down.

"What were you doing?" the lady spats at her.

"I was talking to the kids, and I gave the money to Mary-Anne to hold on to, because she is responsible, and I _trust_ her."

She says and we walk out. I follow behind her, very confused, I might add.

"Why did we go?"

"Because if I didn't, those kids would die. That's the way it works in twelve. That lady, was Ms. Hearn. She is only capable of taking care of herself."

I nod. We walk back to the house.

"I'm tired, I'm gonna take a nap, you can watch TV." she says, and walks up to the second floor, to her room.

*1 hour later*

I hear screaming, coming from upstairs.

I bolt up to her room, and when I get there, she is sobbing and screaming on the floor.

"It's okay," I say trying to soothe her.

"No, you're gonna kill me!" she screams through her tears.

She had a dream that I killed her.

"I wouldn't kill you." I yell. I know, great way to calm her down.

"But you did." she screams."you wanna kill everyone, you're a heartless career." she spats at me.

"I'm not. You know that."

"Then why'd you try to kill me?" she asks, in a small voice.

"I had to. So did you."

"Whatever. Just go."

"Where? Where would I go?" I yell.

"Not my problem. I gave you a chance."

"It was a dream." I shoot back.

"And I know that it's not real now, but why would you yell at me? Haven't I been through enough?" she says, weakly, her voice cracking on the last few words.

"You have." I say.

"Whatever. You're right, stay here, I'll be back tomorrow. She says, and walks away.

Brooke's POV:

I ran out. I know, I overreacted, but can you blame me? I just turned fourteen the day before the reaping(I know, crappy birthday, right?) had a traumatizing experience, and I haven't been quite right since.

I run, I don't where, but I run. I run until I'm out of breath and I have a terrible stitch in my side, but when I finish, I'm in front of Katniss's house. I knock. Katniss answers it.

"Did he drive you out of your house?"

I nod, sadly.

"Well, come on in." she says, and leads me in.

Prim comes and hugs me, I ruffle her hair.

"Stop it, do you know how long it took me to do that?" she whines, referring to her sidebraid, like her older sister's.

"I dunno. A minute."

"Two minutes." she corrects angrily.

"Oh, my bad." I say mockingly.

I look around. Katniss says,"Let's go to my room."

So we go. It's about ten o'clock.

"I gotta go hunting tomorrow, and you have school, so we should get to sleep." I declare.

"Fine with me."

So we sleep.

*Brooke's Dream*

I'm in the arena, running from mutts that are at my tail. They look like the dogs that were in my games. One comes and tackles me. I'm on the hot metal ground. It's burning my skin. The mutt morphs into Cato. The others come and tear my flesh. aai scream and cry. Cato just laughs the whole time.

*End of Dream*

I wake up, screaming and crying. I'm so sweaty, it's not even funny. Katniss is in her bed, snoring softly. She is such a hard sleeper. I cry. I am sobbing, and my body is shaking. Prim walks in. Sweet, eleven year old Prim.

"W-w-what's wrong." she stutters nervously.

"Nothing. I am just...sad."

She looks at me, she doesn't believe me, I can tell.

"ok?" she says.

"Go back to sleep Prim." I say softly.

"You too."

"I'll try."

I go to sleep. Well, pretty much.

Cato's POV:

I feel bad. She ran away from her own home.

I don't know where she would've gone. I don't know where anything is!

Where would she have gone if she needed help and somewhere to stay?

Katniss's House.

I run to the general direction that Katniss's house was. Then, I hear a scream. I run into the house that the scream is coming from. All the houses look the same, so it was just a wild guess. When I walk in, I see a hallway, it's not long at all, only a few feet, but it leads to a door. i open it, and lying on the ground is Brooke, crying and screaming.

"Brooke!" I say.

She looks up at me.

"I'm so sorry-"

"I'm so sorry!" We both say at the exact same time.

"Well, I guess that it's okay." I say.

She goes over to Katniss. She flicks her forehead.

"Ow." Katniss complains.

"I'm going home. Are you gonna hunt tomorrow?"

"No."

"Then bye." Brooke says then she leads me out the door.

_**Brooke's POV:**_

Cato and I walk home.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asks.

"Sure."

"Okay, how many?"

"However many."

"Okay, well, we need to know more about eachother, so we could both ask eachother questions." he says, awkwardly.

"Uh, okay, you can start...I guess." I say, a little unsure.

"Okay, er, You grew up in twelve, right, so, um, well, your district is starving, so how did you live?"

"I hunted-"

"Isn't that illegal?" he cuts me off.

"Yeah, but, it's either starve to death slowly, or get shot in the head, and I'd much rather be shot. It'd be quicker."

"Okay, now you ask me a question."

"Okay, um, do you have any siblings, or parents?"

"Yeah, I have a mom, dad, four brothers, and one sister. But, my two oldest brothers died in the games, they did well though, final two each time, and I have another older brother, but he didn't get chosen to volunteer, and a little brother and sister. They are both training for the games."

"Names?" I ask.

"The two that died were Mark and Trent. The one that didn't volunteer is Jared. My little brother is Jason and my little sister is Grace."

"Okay, so that's Mark, Trent, Jared, Jason, Grace, and Cato."

"Yup," he replies.

"Your turn."

"Uh, okay," he says,"what's your talent for the victory tour?"

"I don't know, you?"

"That doesn't answer my question." he states.

"Well, I really don't know, and I need to go hunting. You can come if you like." I add.

""Nah, I'm good. You go."

So I do.

I sprint to the fence, and check to see if it's on. It's not. I slide under the hole and once I get to the other side, I stop to catch my breath. I go to get my bow, and sling the quiver over my shoulder.

I scale a tree and wait. I see a group of squirrels waddle by and shoot them all down, five in a row! All in the eye. Just the way Mr. Mellark likes them. I see a few birds go by and right when I'm about to shoot them down, I hear a loud, "Hey!"

I'd like to say I was all graceful and pretty and stuff, but in reality, I fell out of the tree, onto my stomach.

I inhale sharply.

"Woah, Brooke, It's just me, Gale, your hunting partner, well one of them. Did career boy make you forget me already?"

"Gale, REALLY! I just fell out of a twenty foot tree, onto my stomach! Are you really gonna bring that up now?!"

He sighs,"I'm sorry Brooke, I just worry about you."

"Well now would be a good tome to worry about me!" I exclaim, trying to stand up.

"Brooke, watch out, you're bleeding!" he yells.

I look down at my stomach, theres a hole, I see a bloody arrow on the ground next to me.

"Oh crap." I whisper.

Gale picks me up, game bag, bow and all, and carries me to the log where I put my bow and arrows away.

We go under the fence, and he picks me back up. He carries me to the seam. I'm starting to get _extremely_ light-headed. We walk into Katniss's house, and immediatly, Ms. Everdeen rushes over to me.

"What happened?" she asks Gale.

He answers her, but he makes sure to add,'It isn't anybody's fault' at the end.

She stitches me up, and I'm fine. "I gotta go." I say., and walk out the door. But, I'm pretty sure I heard Ms. Everdeen mutter,"That girl is so stubborn." before I shut the door.

I walk to the town, a little unsteadily I might add, and go into the bakery.

I see Mr, Mellark.

"What'd you got for me today-"he says, but stops when he sees the blood on my shirt.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Ms. Everdeen stitched me up." I say, and I could've sworn that when I said Ms. Everdeen's name, his eyes lit up, but it was gone too fast to tell.

"Good, did you get anything?" he asks.

'You bet. Wouldn't be here if I didn't." I say teasingly.

I pull out my game bag."Take your pick." I say. He looks through it, and takes two birds and all of the squirrels.

"That translates to ten cheese buns." he says.

I smile sheepishly, those are my favorite, and he knows it.

I walk back into Victor's Village, and into my house.

Cato sees me, and the blood on my shirt.

Dang it, I should've borrowed one of Katniss's shirts!

"Are you okay?" he asks, running over.

"I'm fine, like, a million people have already asked me, yes, I'm okay, Ms. Everdeen stitched me up."

"Okay, what do you have in the bag?" he asks.

"Two dead birds, and nine cheese buns. It was ten but, I ate one." I say, laughing


	9. Chapter 9

*2 months later*

Cato's POV:

So, two months passed, they were pretty uneventful. Brooke got her stitches off, that's about it. The tour is coming up soon, and I kinda wanna go get a few things from my district. Like, from my house.

Which, my family is living in.

I am required to have a house in two, so, since I'm not using it, my family does. I feel like I need clothes. For two months I've been living on the two outfits I brought and whatever scraps I find at the Hob or whatever she calls it.

Which isn't much, to say the least.

I walk into the kitchen, to see Brooke failing to attempt to cook breakfast. Neither of us can cook, so I just watch her with an amused grin on my turns and faces me.

"You try this!" she says, exhasperated.

After an hour of wrestling with a pan and an egg, she manages to cook it.

"That's one egg, now make like, three more." I say.

She glares at me, and says,"You come help me."

I walk over by the stove, and crack an egg on the side of the bowl.

But, apparently, I underestimated my own strength. Because the contents of the egg, go flying, but they completely miss me, and full on hit Brooke.

I bust out laughing.

She stares daggers at me. Although, it isn't very threatening, because she's got egg all over her. In her hair, on her face, all over her shirt, everywhere.

"I'm gonna go change. You can cook breakfast." she says, wiping the egg of her face."Maybe I'll take a shower." she mutters.

I struggle with the eggs, but I manage to make three more.(Did you know that all I had to do was put all three in one pan?)

When she comes down and sees the eggs, she scowls. Ha! I bet she thought that I couldn't do it!

She ties her waist lenght wavy brown hair into a ponytail and, sits down next to me. She grabs a fork and eats her half of the eggs.

I figure this is as good a time as any to see if she wants to go to two with me.

Here it goes.

"Heybrookeithinkweshouldgototwobecauseihavetogetaf ewthings."

"What?" she says laughing. Her green eyes shine with amusement.

"I said, I think we should go to two because I need to get a few things."

All traces of amusement left her face.

"Okay." she says simply. She puts her fork down. "I'll go get ready."

*1 hour later*

Luckily, there is a train leaving less than ten minutes from now.

Brooke hasn't looked at me since I told her I wanted to go. She's standing about a few yards from the track, whereas I'm sitting on a beat down bench leaning against the wall.

Let me rephrase that. I don't want to go, not at all. I _have_ to go.

I walk over to her.

"Look, I kinda get hat you're mad-"

She cuts me off," I'm not mad."

"Then why haven't you said a word to me-"

"Because I'm nervous. Your district will probably hate me too."

"Nah, they'll respect you, at least."

"I hope so."

Just then, the train pulls into the station, and we get on.

The train ride is about, eh, eight hours, so Brooke falls asleep.

I watch her. Her head is rested on my shoulder, and she's snoring very softly. I watch the gentle rise and fall of her chest. I can't believe I ever thought of hurting someone so fragile. But there's another side to her too. She's like a million different people. And, that's when I realize it...

I'm falling for Brooke.

Brooke's POV:

For the first time since I got out of the arena, I have a peaceful, nightmareless sleep. I wonder why.

I find out when I wake up and see my head on Cato's shoulder. He's humming to himself, softly though, so I'm fairly sure that I'm the only one who hears it.

He sees me.

"Hey."

"Hey." I respond.

Just then, the train stops. Ride over.

"How long was I out?" I ask.

"Eh, only about an hour, maybe an hour and a half." he responds.

"Oh. Okay." she says,"by the way, where are we gonna go?"

"To my house in Victor's Village. My parents live there, but it's huge, so, yeah."

We walk from the train station to his house.

He turns to me,"Look, before we get in there, you should know, my parents like to take advantage of people, they're just like that, so, just be careful."

"Okay."

Although, even though he said that, nothng can prepare me for the chaos I'm about to see inside.

As soon as I walk in, the lady who I assume is Cato's mom is yelling at his little sister, Grace, and I see his dad hit Jason across the face.

"HEY!" Cato yells, angrily.

His mom and dad look at him.

"Who are you to barge into our house and yell at us for what we do to our children?"his mother screeches.

"It's my house and that's are my brother and sister!" he yells,.

"And, this is Brooke." he adds, more calm and controlled.

I wave awkwardly.

"What are you here for?" his dad snarls.

"I just came to get some things."

I see Grace run over to him. She wraps her skinny arms around him.

"Please stay." she begs. Cato looks at me pleadingly. I shrug.

"A week." he says authoritively, but he can't keep a straight face, because as soon as her face breaks out in a grin, so does his.

His mother scowls. "All the rooms are taken. You and _that_ can have the couch."

That. Wow. I guess his mother likes me.

Note the sarcasm.

Cato and I walk over to the couch.

"Sorry." he mutters.

"Don't bother. I would've done the same thing." I say.

His little sister comes in.

She looks at me and him.

"Cam you two sleep in my room?"

"Yeah." we both respond.

We follow her to her room. It's pretty small, so that makes me wonder what Mr. and Mrs. Hall use the other rooms for.

"How old are you sweetie?" I ask her.

"I'm eight." she says.

Oh. That's pretty sad. She's eight and she is already getting yelled at by her parents, she's training for the games. She's like a mini-me!

"She's just like you." Cato states, it's like he's reading my thoughts.

I nod.

We go to her bed. Cato goes to the bathroom to get into his pajamas. Grace looks at me for a while. It's like she's judging me. I must have passed the test, because she flings herself into my arms and cries. I start singing to her:

Deep in the meadow, under the willow A bed of grass, a soft green pillow Here it's safe, here it's warm Here the daisies guard you from every harm

At this point, she's already asleep, so I lay her in the middle of her bed. Cato comes in, so I go to the bathroom and change into my pajamas. When I get back, Cato is staring at me.

"You got her to sleep?"

"Yeah." I answer.

He looks at me,"She must've trusted you."

"Yeah," I repeat.

With that, we both lay down on either side of her, and go to sleep.

* * *

Cato's POV:

When we wake up in the morning, I see Grace is still asleep, and she's curled herself into me. I look for Brooke, and she's on the other side of Grace.

Jason comes in.

"Mom and Dad said that you and the girl need to take us to train," he says,"and stay there." I laugh, I bet they did say to stay there.

"You and Grace?" I ask.

"Yeah."

I wake up Brooke. "What. Are. We. Doing. That. Is. So. Important?" she asks angrily.

"We have to take Jason and Grace to training, and stay there."

"Whatever." she says. She gets up and trudges over to the bathroom.

*Twenty minutes later*

Brooke's POV:

When we get to the training center, I have no idea what to do. I just do what Cato does. They all change into a strechy jumpsuit similar to the ones that we wore at the training center. We all change into them quickly, which is kinda awkward, and go to the training area.

"You should shoot, or throw knives or spears or something." Cato says.

"Why?"

"Because, they need to respect you. So they learn not to take advantage of you."

"Um...okay, I'll go get a bow?" Cato shakes his head.

"Spear?" No again.

"Knives?" _No again!_

"Then what am I _supposed_ to go?" I ask, growing agitated.

He points to a complicated maze hanging from the roof. It's got a net about thirty feet under it, which is still about a hundred feet off of the ground, and it's got these long poles leading up to it. It's got these, well, bars hanging from the roof, and tubes going around. Not to mention it moves.

"No. Absolutely no way am I going up there."

"C'mon Brooke, it won't be that bad. It only ever killed like five or six people." he says. That only makes me not want to do it more.

"How many people are stupid enough to do it?"

"At least a hundred a day."

"And you expect me to do that?" I ask.

"No, I'm making you do that." he says, and then he yells,"We've got someone over here who wants to do the sky-maze!"

Before I know what's happening, I am whisked away to a ladder leading up to the first bar. An old man, okay, he's not that old, like thirty five, tells me,"You can do anything possible to get to the end of the maze. You are being timed, so do it fast, if you fall, the net should catch you. Good luck."

"Should, wait, what-" I am nudged onto the ladder and start to climb up. This can't be safe.

Once I get up, I can feel the weight of everybody's eyes. I latch onto the first, and already I can feel my hands slipping. I swing over to the next bar, then the next. Once I get to the first turn, I sneak a glance at the timer, wrong move. One of my hands slips off and the other one is starting to. I use the hand that slipped off to grab the next bar.

_You can do anything possible to get to the end of the maze_. Isn't that what that guy said?

I swing my legs up and over the next bar. The bars are long, so I am able to stand completely straight up. The bars are thin, so it's hard to keep my balance, but once I get the hang of it, I can go from bar to bar pretty easily. I fall, right towards the end, but i catch myself. My wrist hits the bar awkrardly, and it starts to swell. It doesn't matter though, I don't need my arms for this.

Let it be known that Brooke Hays has much more balance than she has upper body strength.

Cato's POV:

The whole 'standing up on the bars' thing was clever. Only two people have ever finished the maze, and that was after years of practice. And they had their ways of cheating too. One actually jumped on the net. That was probably hard. And the other did it so long ago, nobody remembers how it happened anymore.

Just as Brooke finishes the maze, everyone grudgingly claps. That's my girl.

She comes over to stand next to me.

"Good job." I say, smiling.

"Thanks," she answers playfully.

I look at her arm, it looks swollen.

"Is this from when you fell?"

"Yeah, it'll be fine." She answers again.

Once everyone goes back to the usual routine, we split up to different stations. I go to the hand to hand station to help the others train, as a normal district two victor would, and I think she went to throw knives. I dunno.

The kids who are here are the twelve year olds right now, so I basically just show them what to do.

About two hours later, Grace and Jason say that they are about ready to go. I go to get Brooke.

"Hey, you about ready to go?" I ask her.

"Uh huh." she grunts.

We all go change back into our regular clothes and leave.

When we get back to the house, Grace and Jason go to their rooms. My parents are watching TV in the living room, so Brooke and I go up to Grace's room again.

She sits down on the bed and I sit next to her. Grace is already asleep. Brooke takes off her jacket and lowers down into a laying position. I look at her wrist, which has now turned purple by the way.

"Brooke, your wrist looks bad, someone should look at it." I say urgently.

"Who's gonna look at it?"

"We could take you to the hospital," I say.

"How's that gonna look. 'Co-Victor takes other Co-Victor to The hospital with injured wrist. Is Foul Play involved?' How would that look for you Cato? Let's just cover it up for now, and we'll have someone look at it when we get back."

"Whatever you want. Just... I hope you be careful." I say.

* * *

Brooke's POV:

Otherwise training, district two is weird.

Not like in a bad way, I mean, it's so fancy. It's practically a smaller version of the capitol. But the people aren't as ugly. There's nice restaraunts on every corner. They are big and crowded. I can't help but hate everyone in them. People in my district are drowning in poverty. They can't afford food, clothes, people are rotting in mines just to get a few bucks.

Not enough to raise a family, to say the least.

I was forced to hunt at age eight just to live. And these people are getting everything they need handed to them on a platter.

We're walking down a street, Cato and I, and Cato nudges me,"Hey, you okay?"

"Huh, oh... yeah. I'm fine." I answer.

"I know you're lying. Just tell me. Wait, is it your wrist? We can take you to get it looked at, I'm sure we'll-"

"No, it's not my wrist, you just don't need to know. It's not important." I say. Wow. That came out bad.

"It is, I know it."

"You obviously don't know what's wrong." I snap.

"Look it's not any of my buisness, I just want to help you." he says.

"I'd tell you, but you wouldn't understand." I reply.

"Fine. Let's just go back, or, wait. I promised my parents that we'd have dinner with them. It's all for their publicity." he says, kinda bitterly I might add.

"Okay." I say indifferently.

It's about an hour before the "dinner" we're supposed to have with Cato's family. I'm in Grace's room braiding her hair.

"I want it in a side fish-tail," she says.

I braid her long dirty blonde hair into the a fish-tail. Looping each strand of hair over the other to avoid thinking about tonight.

"Thanks," she says when I'm done.

"No problem. Your hair is cute like that." I say. She nods, and walks over to her closet. She pulls out a red dress. It's adorable! The dress has a bright red flowy skirt, and it has a sweatheart neckline with straps. The border of the neckline has red rinestones.

She glances at me. By the looks of it, she doesn't trust me. Then I realize...

"Oh! I won't look!" I say, laughing. She stares at me, like it isn't funny.

She changes, and then she asks me to zip it up. I oblidge.

Cato walks in a minute later. He looks nice. He has a nice black suit on and a white shirt with a black and grey tie.

"You look nice." I comment.

"Thanks, I would say the same, but you're not dressed, wait, that came out wrong, I mean, you have clothes on, but..."

"I know what you mean," I say while smiling. Then my smile falters,"Cato, I have nothing to wear." I say. Wow, that is the girliest thing I've ever said.

He laughs. "I think I have something."

He pulls out a dress bag. He hands it to me. I pull the dress out of the bag and look at it. It's amazing! Cato couldn't have picked a better dress (if he even picked it). It is a full length dress. It goes down to my toes when I put it on. It is a light grey color. It is a flowy dress and has a sweetheart neckline. It is so soft I could sleep in it. Not that I would, but... y'know.

I go into the bathroom and get a hair straightener out. They have such nice things here! Once my hair is completely straight, I comb my bangs onto the front of my forehead and walk out.

"You look good!" Cato says.

"Thanks." I blush.

We walk down stairs, with Grace following behind, and when we get down, I can tell we're all surprised. Cato's brother is here. His older one. Jared.

"Hey bro." Jared says. Cato waves, but it looks like he's recovered from his shock.

"Hi."

His mother claps,"Okay, time to go. Everybody get into the car."

Car?!

Once we all get in to it, we go to a fancy restaraunt. We get a table and sit down.

"Drinks?" asks a perky waitress.

"Tea, sweet."

"Fizz."

"Unsweet tea."

"Sweet tea."

"Soda."

"Wine."

"Water." I say last.

Once they bring the drinks, I take small sips of water so I don't look impolite.

We all order some kind of chicken to share thing. There are cameras outside the restaraunt, filming everything. I can hear Cato's parents talking.

"What's wrong with her? She comes here, expecting everything from us?" his dad mumbles.

"I know. It's because she's poor. That ratty district of hers."

"It's not ratty." I speak up. Everyone at the table looks at me.

"You can say anything you want about my district, but I'm here. I won the games, I lived. Can you say the same?" I ask angrily, my voice rising a bit more at every word.

"Don'y come to our house and talk to us like that. You are just some stupid poor girl." says his dad.

"No, it's not your house. And I'm not that poor anymore. And even when I was, I had a better head on my shoulder than yours."

"So what! All we care about is looking good! We never cared about-"

Then it's gonna make you look really bad when I run out!" I say.

"And go back to your crappy district?" his mom yells.

"Yeah." I say, and storm out.

I go to the train station and get on a train back to twelve, dreading the moment when I'll have to leave again.


End file.
